Shooting Leads To Sebring High Lockdown
NO ONE WAS INJURED
By JOE SEELIG

SEBRING — Students and staff at Sebring High School were under a three-hour lockdown Monday morning after someone used a pellet or BB gun to shoot a hole in a classroom window.

School Resource Supervisor Sgt. Monica Sauls said there were students and a teacher in the classroom at about 8:55 a.m. when the projectile broke through the glass.

“The teacher thought a light bulb had broken,” Sauls said.

A short time later during the class change a student coming into the classroom found a small piece of broken glass on his desk top and brought it to her attention.

“She reported it immediately,” Sauls said.

School Resource Officer deputy Manny Gonzalez, Principal Toni Stievender and the administration reacted and the school was placed on lockdown “for the safety of the students and staff,” Sauls said.

“Administration accompanied by law enforcement checked all classrooms,” Sauls said. “Deputy Louis Pratts-Martinez and his K-9 Blue searched the area from which investigators believe the shot came from.

“It was impossible to get a scent because so many children had walked over the scene,” Sauls said. “Checks were made of the school’s perimeter to no avail.”

No one had reported seeing anything and the school’s video system is being reviewed by school officials and deputy Gonzalez, as well as crime scene investigators.

The actual projectile that broke the glass has not yet been recovered, Sauls said. Because of the location
on the window that was hit, the shot had to have been fired from school property.

During the student search, one 15-year-old male sophomore was arrested on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon (a hunting knife) on school property.

A female student was also found by a teacher to be in possession of a pocket knife, but she left the school property when the lockdown was lifted and before she could be charged, Sauls said.

Several cellular telephones were also confiscated and those students will face disciplinary action in the near future, but the main focus at the time was locating the weapon used.

“I was pleased we did not find anything more in the way of weapons or drugs,” Sauls said. “Students were asked to empty their pockets and to exit the room. In the portables students remain in the room.

“Staff acted quickly and did what they were trained to do as teachers and administration, in the search.”